Weekly Report - 28 July 2022 (WR-22-30)

A bolt from the blue could potentially reshape Paraguayan politics and the fight against organised crime.... Read More

Just over a week away from taking office on 7 August, Colombia’s president-elect Gustavo Petro is signaling that he has the political will and congressional support to make historic changes and introduce what is being called a policy of “total peace”.... Read More

Bruno Pacheco, President Pedro Castillo’s former chief adviser who absconded following his sentencing to 36 months’ preventive detention in March, is viewed by prosecutors as key to their investigation into alleged top-level corruption in the presidential palace.... Read More

The Partido Comunista de Venezuela (PCV) has accused the government led by President Nicolás Maduro of conducting an escalating crackdown on its activists.... Read More

ECUADOR | Poverty decreases.... Read More

When President Jair Bolsonaro launched his re-election bid on 24 July for the Partido Liberal (PL) he was in a much better position to clinch another four-year term than he was at the beginning of the year.... Read More

On 27 July, Chile’s comptroller general’s office confirmed that it would investigate claims by right-wing opposition parties that the government led by left-wing President Gabriel Boric was incorrectly using public funds to support an “approve” vote in the referendum due on 4 September on a new draft constitution written by an elected constitutional convention (CC).... Read More

As this issue went to press, Argentina seemed to be stumbling into a new ministerial reshuffle and a possible change at the economy ministry, which could lead to a new bout of exchange rate turbulence as investors react to uncertainty over the direction of economic policy.... Read More

Jorge Winckler, the former attorney general of Veracruz state (2016-2019), was arrested on 25 July after almost three years on the run, accused of kidnap and forced disappearance.... Read More

Mexico’s congress began discussing proposals to reform the electoral system on 26 July.... Read More

Last week the US State Department released an updated version of the so-called ‘Engel List’, which, first issued a year ago, featured Central Americans accused of corruption, obstructing investigations into corruption, or undermining democratic process.... Read More

Uruguay’s President Luis Alberto Lacalle Pou assumed the rotating presidency of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) on 21 July.... Read More

“It is regrettable what we are living through.... Read More